art & music

“CLOSED” “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS” & Just One “RELOCATION”

I wrote earlier about the closing of one of my very favorite paper goods store in San Diego: Hillcrest Stationers. They had been in business since 1934 and sadly suffered from the “economy” and had to close it’s doors. Before moving onto a more positive note, I’d like to take a moment to also bid farewell to the following San Diego stores that closed their doors in 2009-2010:

–Wear It Again Sam: Closing the store to “go online” completely via Ebay

–TUK shoes: Closed a few weeks ago, can buy their stock online

–Rags: Closed long ago, it was good for the every-now-and-again cheap finds and selling old clothes

–Adams Avenue Books: In the final few sad days, we were able to buy a few boxes worth of amazing $1 priced books

-Wahrenbrock’s Book House: They had an unexpected and minimally advertised week-long last-minute sale of the entire stores collection (or at least what was leftover from what the owners took for trade to larger stores), and Zack ended up in one of the very last photos taken of the place as he perused on the final days. It was later published in the Union Tribune for an article bidding farewell to much-adored bookstore. It is an incredible loss to the community and a terrible foreshadowing of “things to come” for the used bookstore-loving community. The revolution in reading is apparently digitalizing all the written word by way of Kindle-like tools. Yuck.

I did promise a positive note for this post, and here it is: The Artist & Craftsmen Supply art store is filling the old Hillcrest Stationers building. I am incredibly grateful that an art store is replacing an art store, because if it suffered the almost too-common fate of being converted into some crappy bourgeois wine bar, I would have lost all hope in humanity!

So at least there is one optimistic hope amongst this past going-out-of-business themed year. Sigh.

Probably that Hillcrest is overpricing and undermining the most creative and unique businesses that MAKE Hillcrest the mini-mecca it is (or once was). Now it seems to be driving out all businesses that made it a getaway for residents and tourists looking for something more substantial than the mall-type shopping found downtown. I’m sure soon enough there won’t be anything left for me to venture out there for besides the Trader Joes!